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Covert, Michigan is an unincorporated community in central Covert Township, in northwestern Van Buren County, in the southwestern Lower Peninsula.

As it is unincorporated, the community lacks defined boundaries, but is centered around the intersection of M-140 and 34th Avenue. The Van Buren Trail, a recreational trail that leads from South Haven to Hartford passes through the eastern section of the village. The trail can be used for hiking, jogging, biking, horseback riding, and snowmobiling.

The Covert post office, situated within the village, delivers mail to most of Covert Township, which may include the unincorporated communities of Friendsville (3.0 miles east), Linden Hills (3.3 miles west), Toquin (4.5 miles southeast), Fish Corners (4.6 miles south-southwest), Palisades Park (4.9 miles northwest), and Braywood (6.9 miles southwest).

Outside of the township, the city of South Haven is 7.7 miles north of Covert, while Watervliet is 7.9 miles south, Coloma is 8.8 miles south-southwest, Bangor is 9.0 miles east, and Hartford is 10.9 miles southeast of the village.

M-140 runs north-south through the center of the settlement, while I-196 roughly parallels M-140 to the west, M-43 is five or six miles northeast of the community, and County Road 376 is about three miles south.

The first European-Americans to settle the area upon which the community would later grow is thought to be Benoni Young, who came in 1845, although a village wasn't established until 1866 when two men by the name of Hawks and Lambert bought timberland in the area and put up some mills. However, in 1868, Alfred H. Packard, doing business as Packard & Company, bought the mills, expanded upon them, and acquired additional timberland. Later, they devoted one of their sawmills to sawing and planing, and built a gristmill for grinding corn and other types of feed, but not flour. A horsedrawn railroad was built from the mills to Lake Michigan, building piers on the lakeshore at the area of the terminus of the railroad, so that they could ship lumber to Milwaukee, Chicago, Racine, and other lake ports.

A post office was established on March 24, 1868, with Thomas Hawks as postmaster. Around that time, the South Haven & Eastern Railroad came through, establishing a station at Covert, although the town was originally known as Deerfield, as was the township. The now-abandoned railbed currently serves as the route for the portion of the Van Buren Trail that passes through Covert.

Besides the lumbering operations, early businesses included a general store operated by Josiah Packard, who also had an interest in Packard & Company, as well as the E.G. Allen & Company drug store, the E.A. Rood hardware store, a couple of blacksmith shops operated by O.B. Shine and Mark Peters, a clock and watch shop owned by J.R. Shine, the S.P. Kenney livery stable, the G.H. Michaels market, a shoe store operated by a man named Colvin, and the doctor's office of Dr. G.D. Carnes.

Covert was integrated from the beginning. Among the early settlers of the area were the Connors and the Tylers, who had come to Michigan from the South. Others came later. When a school was established for the village, the school was integrated even though the laws in effect at that time did not permit white and black children to attend school together. The black students were registered without mention of their race. Although the black population Convert was never more than ten percent, from all indications they were treated as equals, and the Covert Cemetery includes black and white Civil War veterans.

The focus of this category is on the community of Covert, Michigan. In the absence of definable borders, businesses, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, or events bearing a Covert post office address may be listed here, although some of these may actually be in neighboring communities.

 

 

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